


Vigil

by vix_spes



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Established Relationship, Extended Scene, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Missing Scene, Star Trek: Into Darkness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-19
Updated: 2016-09-19
Packaged: 2018-08-16 03:04:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8084227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vix_spes/pseuds/vix_spes
Summary: Leonard knows this isn't the last time he'll sit at Jim Kirk's bedside.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Huge thanks to [nursedarry](http://archiveofourown.org/users/NurseDarry/pseuds/NurseDarry) for the beta.

In all truthfulness, Leonard should be nowhere near Jim’s hospital room. Hell, he probably shouldn’t be anywhere near the hospital as he’d been sent home hours earlier, but he hadn’t been able to stay away. How could he stay away when Jim had died? He had actually died and it was something of a miracle that Leonard had managed to find a way to bring him back again. But, even though logically Leonard knew that Jim was alive, he actually needed Jim to wake up before he truly believed it.  
  
This was hardly the first time that Leonard had kept a vigil at Jim Kirk’s hospital bed and he knew that it definitely wasn’t going to be the last. Not that that made it any easier to deal with. Hell, if anything, it made things harder because every single time it happened Leonard was just that bit more invested, that little bit more in love.  
  
This was different though because this time Jim had died. Leonard had opened a body-bag in Sickbay and been faced with the body of the man that he loved. To make matters worse, once the initial treatments had been administered and Jim had been injected with the serum that Leonard had synthesised, and they were heading back to Earth, Leonard had been informed that he was no longer going to be allowed to remain in charge of Jim’s care once they landed. In an ideal world, he would no longer be in charge of Jim’s care but they were picking their battles. Worse than that, once they hit planetside he was allowed to have no part in Jim’s treatment at all because he was deemed to be too close to the situation.  
  
To say that the decision hadn’t been well-received was an understatement to say the least. Leonard had ranted and raved about how stupid it all was, how he and Jim were CMO and Captain and of course they were going to be close, even if you disregarded the relationship between them. He had pointed out that he had treated Jim a hundred other times – both at the Academy and on the _Enterprise_ – and no-one had told him then that he was too close to the situation. The response that he had received could basically be boiled down to the statement that _Jim Kirk had never died before and, as a result, Leonard was deemed to be too emotionally compromised_.  
  
Leonard hadn’t been happy but the brass had refused to change their minds so he just had to live with it. In response, he had refused to leave Jim’s side in the Sickbay while Jim’s care was still entrusted to him on the _Enterprise_. He had slept in a chair that he’d pulled to the side of the biobed, had had his meals there and only taken sonic showers in the small bathroom next to his office. They had no idea when Jim was going to wake up and Leonard had no intention of being anywhere other than at Jim’s side when that did happen. And it was going to happen because Leonard refused to believe otherwise.  
  
The problem was that the longer that Jim took to wake up, the more Leonard began to doubt both himself and Jim. He began to doubt both his skills and the serum that he had concocted. He began to doubt if he had done everything he could to ensure not only Jim’s survival, but his recovery as well. Leonard then began to wonder, to doubt whether after everything that he had been through, would Jim be strong enough to fight. Maybe this was a no-win scenario that Jim Kirk couldn’t beat.  
  
The instant that they hit planet-side, Leonard more than a little reluctantly surrendered Jim’s care into the hands of doctors Boyce and M’Benga. Leonard trusted their skills as doctors, but he just didn’t trust anybody with Jim’s care, regardless of their skills. And so, he may have been forced to give up Jim’s care but he refused to abandon his vigil at Jim’s bedside.  
  
They tried to get him to leave Jim’s room for stretches of time to get sleep, fresh air - even going so far as placing a lock on Jim’s door so that he couldn’t gain access. It didn’t have the intended result, and instead he picked up shifts in the ER where they welcomed him with open arms. After that, they had to give him access again.  
  
He had just returned to Jim’s room and was checking all of the monitors when he heard the tell-tale sounds of the equipment that Jim was finally, _finally_ , waking up.  
  
“Oh don’t be so melodramatic, you were barely dead. It was the transfusion that took its toll. You were out cold for two weeks.”  
  
Needing to do something, Leonard fumbled for a tricorder and started checking Jim over, knowing that both Boyce and M’Benga wouldn’t begrudge him this and hoping that Jim didn’t notice just how badly his hands were shaking.  
  
“Transfusion?”  
  
“Your cells were heavily irradiated. We had no choice.”  
  
“Khan?”  
  
“Once we caught him I synthesised a serum from his super-blood. Tell me, are you feeling homicidal, power-mad, despotic?” Despite the jovial tone of his question, Leonard couldn’t help but hold his breath as he waited for the answer; there was a considerable difference between Jim and a tribble, after all.  
  
“No more than usual. How’d you catch him?”  
  
Despite his relief, Leonard could see and hear the toll that speaking was taking on Jim, not to mention the fact that Jim had missed the quiet footfalls that had heralded Spock’s approach. He cocked his head in the direction of the _Enterprise’s_ First Officer. “I didn’t.”  
  
“You saved my life.”  
  
“Uhura and I had something to do with it too, you know.” The quirk of the eyebrow that Jim sent in Leonard’s direction proved that Jim knew his grumbling and show of activity was just that; a show. Still, Jim made no comment and returned to his conversation with Spock before the Vulcan excused himself, giving Jim a graceful out and the ability to rest.  
  
Leonard made as though to follow him, intent on getting preferably Boyce or M’Benga, or a nurse at the very least so that they could double-check on Jim. Leonard wanted someone else’s opinion to ensure wasn’t reading any of the displays wrong out of sheer relief. He didn’t make it further than about three steps before Jim’s hand shot out to wrap weakly around Leonard’s wrist.  
  
“Stay.”  
  
“Jim, at the very least I need to notify Boyce or M’Benga; let them know that you’re awake.”  
  
“They can wait. My readings are okay, aren’t they?”  
  
“Yeeeees, I believe so,” Leonard’s resolve was wavering in the face of Jim’s blasted puppy dog eyes and his own need to stay.  
  
“So stay with me. I know you Bones. You’ve probably kept vigil by my bedside since this whole thing started, keeping yourself awake with a ridiculous number of hypo-stims. Come on, rest with me awhile.”  
  
Leonard sent one final look towards the door before caving in, doing what he really wanted to. Knowing that Jim’s minor cuts and abrasions had long-since healed, the radiation being the cause of his death, and that no had apparently been reversed, leaving Jim whole but still weak. Helping him move over as far as possible in the biobed, Leonard crawled in beside Jim, wedging himself in on the other side. His right arm was immediately appropriated by Jim as an additional pillow, while Leonard wrapped the fingers of his left hand around Jim’s left wrist so that he could feel the reassuring thump of the steady pulse. Dropping his head slightly, he pressed a kiss to Jim’s temple.  
  
“It’s alright darlin’, just go to sleep. I’m gonna stay right here.”  
  
He was rewarded by a sleepy kiss being pressed to the underside of his jaw. “Mmmkay. Don’ worry, ‘m gonna be all righ’ Bones.”  
  
“Yeah, I know kid, you always are.”

**Author's Note:**

> If you would prefer to comment on LJ, you can do so [here](http://vix-spes.livejournal.com/253952.html)


End file.
